Bios

Dr. Leslie M. Alperstein is President and CEO of Washington Analysis, LLC, Washington’s leading governmental policy investment research group servicing global money managers. He has served as Executive Managing Director and Director of Research of HSBC Securities, Inc., and as Director of Economic and Investment Research for NatWest Securities, Prudential Securities, Shields Model Roland, Inc., and Legg Mason and Co. Earlier, he served as a captain in the U. S. Army, and as a staff economist on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

He is a member of the National Association of Business Economists, the National Economists Club, the CFA Society of Washington, The Washington Association of Money Managers and is listed in Who’s Who in American Finance and Industry. He has lectured at numerous universities and taught in the CFA Society of Washington CFA program. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Eagle Bancorp and has served on the Board of Directors of the Jewish National Fund, the Board of Trustees of McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) and the Board of Directors of the American Liver Foundation. He is active in many charitable organizations.

Leslie, a political economist widely recognized for his economic, political, and financial market forecasts, has appeared on CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg and is frequently quoted in the press. He received his B.A. from McDaniel College and his M.A. and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh.

Saad Kamal covers Special Situations across sectors often covering binary events relating to deals, tax, legal, trade or other regulatory catalysts.

Saad started his career at Lehman Brothers, working in their Global Mergers and Acquisitions group. Saad also worked at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest healthcare union in the United States, in the Capital Development Group focusing on healthcare investments. Prior to that, Saad worked at Knob Hill Partners, a Boston-based investment firm. Saad attended Middlebury College and Harvard Business School.

John Leppard joined Washington Analysis in 2011 as a Healthcare Analyst, bringing  with him experience from the highest levels of government. After completing his M.S. at George Mason University, focusing on healthcare business practices and policy, he moved to DC to work on those issues with the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC). Upon completion of his term at the NEC, he next moved to the Cato Institute, a prominent DC think tank, followed by Steptoe & Johnson’s healthcare lobbying team.  John is also the co-author of several peer reviewed papers, ranging in topics from pharmacogenomic medicine to reimbursement reform, and has worked with congressional thought leaders as well.

Joe Lieber is Director of Research and Senior Political Analyst at Washington Analysis, LLC.  In this capacity, Joe analyzes political and legislative issues that have the potential to impact overall sentiment in the financial markets.  Joe also handicaps national elections, and has direct policy analyst responsibility for matters involving budget, taxes, transportation, gaming, and other one-off issues.  Joe joined Washington Analysis as a Political Analyst in 1995. From 1991-1995 he served as Policy Analyst for Senator Don Nickles at the Republican Policy Committee.  He received his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Oklahoma and his M.A in International Transactions from George Mason University.

Ira Loss, Senior Health Care Analyst, was one of the original founders of Washington Analysis in 1973. For the past 45 years, Ira has been responsible for covering health care issues affecting the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices industries.

Prior to 1973, Ira served as a senior policy analyst for the Government Research Corporation, as assistant counsel to the American Insurance Association and as a legislative assistant to Congressman Emilio Q. Daddario of Connecticut.

Ira is a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a B.A. in history. He received a law degree, with honors, from the National Law Center of George Washington University and is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association.

Beth Mantz Steindecker is a Senior Vice President and Health Care Analyst where she primarily researches the legislative, regulatory and legal issues facing health care service providers and health insurers. Her key areas of focus include Medicare reimbursement and coverage, and the Affordable Care Act’s implementation/dismantling and related regulatory and legislative issues, federal Medicaid policy, and reforming federal healthcare entitlements. As a senior member of the Health Care team, Beth is also responsible for researching the issues facing the entire healthcare arena including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, healthcare services and health insurers.  She joined the firm in May 2002.

Prior to joining Washington Analysis, Beth was the pharmaceutical and biotechnology reporter for the Dow Jones Newswires from 1998-2002. During this time many of her articles were published in national newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Kansas City Star, and Orange County Register. Beth’s career as a journalist culminated with her being awarded by NewsBios/TJFR Group, a business and financial press organization, the honor of being named in 2002 one of the “Top 30 journalists under 30.”

Beth is also an attorney, retired from practice in New York State. She earned her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Art History and American History from the University of Pennsylvania.

Frank Oliveri was an award-winning journalist for more than 25 years, the majority of which covering defense.

For 10 years he worked as a defense and foreign policy editor and reporter for Congressional Quarterly, one of the top congressional policy publications in Washington. He also has written for Defense News, Air Force Magazine, and Defense Daily, among others. He has covered the Pentagon, weapons acquisition, technology and development, military strategy and doctrine. He is expert in the congressional process, specializing in the defense authorizing committees and appropriations writ large.

He holds a B.S. from Southern Connecticut State University and a master’s from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Rob Rains joined Washington Analysis in April 2013 and covers energy, with an emphasis on gas and electric utilities, renewable energy and energy infrastructure including pipelines, liquefied natural gas, and electric transmission. He also covers utility deals. Prior to joining Washington Analysis, Rob worked for Capstone, another policy analysis firm. Before Capstone, Rob spent five years as a Sr. Government Relations Representative for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), a trade association and global technical standards developer, focusing on energy and environmental issues. Rob began his career on Capitol Hill where he worked for former-Reps. Brian Baird (WA) and Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH). Rob earned his JD from The Catholic University of America and holds a B.A. in Political Science and English-Journalism from Miami University (Ohio).

Ryan leads our Financial Services and Housing policy team. He joined Washington Analysis in 2007 from Cassidy & Associates, a leading government relations firm in Washington, DC, where he focused on legislation and regulation across several sectors, including financial services. He also spent time at several research organizations in Washington, including the Brookings Institution. He completed all coursework and comprehensive examinations toward completion of a Ph.D. in political science and econometrics at George Washington University.  Ryan also served as a research and teaching assistant at GWU after graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a dual degree in political science and philosophy.

Thomas (Tom) Seitz joined Washington Analysis in June 2014.  He has been a sell side analyst covering the Telecom space for over 10 years at both Lehman Brothers and Jefferies & Co.  Most recently he worked for Jefferies & Co. from August 2011 to November 2013 as a Managing Director in equity research. His focus included telcos, wireless service providers, cable and data center/cloud companies.  His research was noted for its insights into the impact of Washington, D.C. on this highly regulated market.

Before joining Jefferies & Co, he spent two years covering Washington issues, and was the Director of Research at a policy firm.  In addition to his duties as DoR, he was a managing director and senior research analyst following the telecom, cable, media and tech sectors.  Prior to that role, Tom was a senior vice-president at Lehman Brothers, and subsequently Barclays Capital, covering the telecom services sector in the equity research department for over eight years.

Numerous media and industry publications have cited Tom’s work.  The Wall Street Journal, ranked Tom the #4 analyst for Telecom – Fixed Line, in its “Best on the Street” survey. The Lehman telecom services team was consistently ranked in Institutional Investor’s “All-America Research Team” for both wireline and wireless during Tom’s tenure.

Christina joined Washington Analysis in 2014 as research associate and editor after earning her bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University. Previously, she interned at Soluciones Comunitarias in Guatemala, focusing on sustainable product sales and small business practices for indigenous populations, and ECONorthwest, an economic and financial consulting firm in Portland, Oregon.

Gianna Kinsman joined Washington Analysis in October 2016 as a research associate focusing on energy policy and special situations. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Yale University.

Whitney Stanco joined the WA Energy Team as Vice President and Senior Energy Analyst. Her research coverage includes legislative, regulatory, foreign policy, tax and legal issues affecting the energy sector. Her key areas of focus are oil & gas upstream, midstream and downstream as well as transportation, mining and markets.

Prior to joining the firm, Whitney was a Senior Advisor at The Rapidan Group, where she covered U.S. policy in the context of energy markets.  In addition, she advised institutional investor clients on clean tech, electricity and oil & gas policy issues for nine years at the Washington Research Group.

Whitney previously worked as a consultant for BP in Houston, and for Accenture in Germany. A native of Midland, Texas, she received her B.B.A in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin and her M.A. in International Relations with concentrations in energy economics and finance at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She also studied at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain and the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.  Whitney speaks Spanish, Portuguese and German.

Gracie joined Washington Analysis in 2017 as a research associate focused on financial services and consumer finance. She has previous experience with The Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program, Vox Global and Raines International. She received her bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University, and a Masters in Comparative Public Policy from the University of Edinburgh.